Avalanche Forecast

Sunday's MIN reports show interesting slab properties that occurred during skiing. Check the embedded MIN for a review.

On Saturday, a small (size 1) avalanche was observed in the Beaufort range.

Remember that even a small loose wet avalanche can push a rider into or over a terrain trap, such as a cliff or gulley feature.

The upper snowpack consists of 30-60cm of storm snow that has been redistributed primarily by northwest winds at alpine and treeline. This snow will rapidly settle and become heavy with today's warming event. This overlies a pronounced melt-freeze crust that can be found at elevations 1500 m and below. Above 1500 m the melt-freeze crust begins to lose strength and is less than 1 cm thick.

The mid and lower snowpack remains moist and is generally well-settled and dense.

Snowpack depths are highly variable and have been recorded between 200 and 300 cm, the consistent theme is that they taper quickly as you descend. While the snowpack in most forested areas below treeline remains below threshold depths, expect features such as steep cliffs, and open alpine-like features to have the potential to produce avalanches.

Tuesday Night

Cloudy, northwesterly winds 40 km/h, treeline temperature 0°C, freezing level rising to 2500 m.

Wednesday

Mainly sunny with possible marine fog layer, no new precipitation, northwesterly winds 40-50 km/h, treeline temperature 5°C, freezing level 3000 m.

Thursday

Mainly sunny, trace precipitation, northwesterly winds building through the day 50 km/h, treeline temperature 5°C, freezing level 2500 m

Friday

Mix of sun and cloud, trace precipitation, northwesterly winds easing to 30 km/h, treeline temperature 1°C, freezing level 2000 m.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

• Avoid steep slopes when air temperatures are warm, or solar radiation is strong.
• The more the snow feels like a slurpy, the more likely loose wet avalanches will become.
• Recent wind has varied in direction so watch for wind slabs on all aspects.